Providing sunroof or convertible tops for sport utility (SUV) type vehicles is desired. In recent years, soft top technology has advanced. In recent years, the use of “frameless” designs (e.g., tops that are not attached to the frame of the SUV) have allowed fold-back sunroof top designs and even completely retractable tops.
Other advances in soft top design has been a sportier and very popular slanted back design. Unfortunately, in the past such slanted designs have required a framed type structure, e.g., a lot of conventional framed features and assembly support bows, such as that are fixed attachment to the frame of the SUV. Therefore, typically, customers had a tradeoff decision as to whether they wanted the sporty slanted back look on their vehicle or the open air features and amenities offered in a frameless design.
Known soft top designs do not allow multiple options for conversion of a slanted back top. Furthermore, conventional soft top designs have complicated, difficult and time consuming attachment arrangements for soft goods of the top assembly. Further, conventional soft tops have inadequate tensioning creating rippling effects, flapping or undesired movement or other undesired fit and function of the soft top in the installed position on the vehicle.
Therefore, there remains a need in the art for a soft top design with the open air features and amenities of a frameless top design but with the styling features of a slanted back design.